And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead…

It is not that So Divided is a bad album, I just feel like I was lied to. In the interviews that led up to the release of Trail Of Dead’s new album So Divided frontman Conrad Keely promised a return to band’s punk rock roots. After the drastic departure of the band’s last album, Worlds Apart, I was truly excited to hear what the band had in store on the new record. Imagine my surprise when So Divided sounded like an even more toned down effort.

Here’s the problem that I assume most older Trail of Dead fans have. On the band’s first three albums the band mixed mid-tempo rockers with flat out punk rock numbers. It was a brilliant mixture and the band made it work with truly great songs. On the the band’s last two albums we have seen a phasing out of the punk rock songs. Worlds Apart and So Divided are made up of mid-tempo rockers and a number of slower songs. The band is surely known for their flaunted pretentiousness but unfotunely over the last few albums it seeped into their music. They morphed into a pompous rock band that indulges their songwriting to tedious results far too often. That being said, there are some great tracks on So Divided which makes the listen all the more frustrating. So Divided is not a bad album at all…it is just not what I was led to believe it was going to be. And it’s just not the Trail Of Dead I fell in love with all those years ago.

Keely has admitted that the band seriously considered retirement after the less-than-spectacular sales from their last album, Worlds Apart. While So Divided is more focused and not nearly as bloated I can not imagine this record will do much better. So, I seriously doubt we will be seeing album #6 from Trail Of Dead. All indications is that might just be the best thing for all involved.